By Amy Nickerson
The lyrics to a popular song say, “If you had to walk a mile in his shoes, then you’d know what it’s like to have the blues.”
Last week, Ottawa-Carleton residents tried to walk in the shoes of people living in poverty as part of Poverty Challenge 2000. They lived for a week on the budget of a welfare recipient, washed their clothes at a laudrymat and ate meals at homeless shelters.
Poverty Challenge 2000 was part of Poverty Awareness Week which ran from Jan. 19-25.
The problem with events like Poverty Challenge 2000 is that it is impossible to understand poverty unless people have experienced it themselves. A person can’t gain a sense of the long-term poverty that is a reality for many Ottawa-Carleton residents just by eating a meal at a homeless shelter. Participants in the challenge have the luxury of returning to their comfortable homes, their full stomaches and a sense of security after the week spent in poverty. It is too easy for them to allow themselves to think,”Only five more days until I can try out that new restaurant,” or “This toothbrush for my child doesn’t really count as part of the money that I am allowed to spend.”
The real poverty challenge exists when residents are forced to make the decision between heating and eating. Poverty is alive in those homes where there is never enough money for extras like school supplies, birthday presents and clothes for work. Poverty is alive in those apartments where parents can’t sleep at night because they are wondering where that next meal will com from.
This poverty challenge trivializes the experiences of real people living in poverty. Ottawa’s poor will not celebrate the end of the week with a trip to a restaurant. The truly impoverished don’t have the option of returning to a comfortable life at the end of the week. Poverty is not a choice; it is reality.
It is the experiences of those people who wake up every day in poverty that should move us to do something about it. Take some time to talk to that homeless man on the street or ask a single mother how she makes ends meet. The true challenge is to understand how poverty influences people and to find permanent solutions.